One Heart, With Two Owners
by The Cliffhanger Girl
Summary: Life struggles are hard when you're alone, but lucky for Clare, she has her Eli.../AU/Eclare/Fluff/


Hey guys! This is a little one-shot I'd like to call "One Heart, With Two Owners"...

**Twitter**: TheCliffyG

No Beta Reader, ignore any mistakes :)

**This one-shot is for:** eclarefanxxx :)

**Warning:** ECLARE FLUFF

**Summary:** Life struggles are hard when you're alone, but lucky for Clare, she has her Eli.../AU/Eclare/Fluff/

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**_One Heart, With Two Owners _**

**CLARE**

Staring down at all the bills scattered across Eli and I's bed, worry was filling my body with each second passing by. I could hear my heart pounding in my head, the lump in my throat only becoming larger and more uncomfortable.

_**Cable**_

_**Phone**_

_**Electricity**_

_**Water **_

_**Credit Cards **_

Every type of bill known to man is on this bed, and just thinking about opening the rough edged envelope made the anxiety creep up to an all time high. I took a quick glance at Eli's pills resting on the night stand, wondering if I should just pop one in my mouth...

_"No Clare, no." _

I shook my head, before taking a hesitant seat at the edge of our bed. I shuffled through a couple of magazines, trying to distract myself from the large payments that await inside those envelopes in which Eli and I can't afford.

Being a newly wedded couple, we've been buying many things for our new home, along with other necessities for our future-such as onesies. I knew Eli had bought one, in hopes that it would give us good luck in getting me pregnant. Unfortunately, the onesies were now only buried deeper into our drawers that we shared, and no baby has made an appearance.

On top of the stress of starting a family, trying to create a stable environment for just the two of us is hard enough.

Since I'm only bringing in money from a substitute teachers salary, Eli brings in majority of the money in from book signings and publishing his works.

I thought high school and college was hard; heck, trying to make an actual living with the one you love has been the hardest thing I've ever tried to do in my life. It's a challenge indeed, but one I love to do because it's with Eli.

Except, when Eli isn't home yet, and I receive something as feeble as bills-I begin to worry. I worry if Eli and I can make it through paying off bills, having a baby, raising a child/children properly, or even getting our mail mixed up with the neighbors and then we have debt.

Lately, my mind has been turning small things into ginormous, mind boggling, left field situations.

"Honey, I'm home!" his voice boomed throughout the entire house, sending a chill up my spine.

I quickly shoved all the bills underneath my pillow, and quickly laid down on top of them, making sure he couldn't see them.

"Want to go out for some dinner or do you want to stay in and eat-," the teasing in his voice made me smile a bit, but it stopped when he saw me resting uneasily on our bed, "me?"

My whole body became warm, but the bills beneath my back felt like they were burning holes through my skin. He smirked, jumping onto the bed in front of me like a child, asking eagerly, "Do you want to go to your favorite restaurant downtown? I heard they've got new types of burritos and-."

I cut him off, trying to be calm, "Isn't that place really expensive? We can just stay home...I've got plenty of...um, cereal."

He smirked, cupping my cheek, "We can go out to eat, then go grocery shopping cause' I know that fridge must be empty. How does that sound?"

Going out to eat with my husband at a fancy diner, and then spending-my estimated amount-around one hundred dollars to fill the refrigerator and cabinets with food didn't sound so fun to me.

"It sounds bad," I muttered.

Eli placed his hand on my thigh, forcing me to look into my eyes, "What's wrong? You're always up for that Mexican place. Come on; we go there, split some rice, have a couple of tacos, and then eat that gigantic sundae that has a built in enchilada! Even though we never eat all of it, getting sick after is the best part!"

He sounded so happy, so eager, so exhilarated to spend all of this money, that I just didn't have the heart to tell him that I didn't want to go because of our money issue.

"What do you say, Mrs. Sexy-I mean, Mrs. Goldsworthy?" he reached out for my hands, pulling them out of my lap, "Please come out with me and let's vomit together over Mexican food..."

"Eli," I sighed, trying to avoid his gaze by pulling my hands out of his grasp, "We can't afford that."

"W-What do you mean? What's wrong? Did our accounts freeze or something?" Eli asked nervously, pulling out his blackberry to-most likely-check his email for a notice about something as important as that.

"No, our combined bank account did not freeze. But, with my estimated amount of what we've been spending on lately, it leads up to us living on the street," I sniffled, wiping away unshed tears-determined to keep them unshed.

"What are you talking about?" I watched him loosen the tie around his dress shirt, letting it hang loosely. "I'm talking about the fact that we've been spending too much. Whether it's on furniture, or the cable bill or-."

I kept rambling, but Eli cut me off, with his lips.

"No," I pushed him away as gently as I could, "You can't just think kissing me makes this problem go away."

"We don't have financial problems Clare," I scoffed, throwing my pillow on the floor, and tossing the bills in his hands. He caught them all, and began flipping through them, "Open them-and see the drastic numbers for yourself because I am not sticking around for that."

He grabbed my bicep before I could reach the door, and said, "We're not dating anymore Clare-we're husband and wife. We're supposed to work these kinds of problems out together."

Even though the fear of Eli and I becoming homeless, never having children or paying off these "debts" were still fresh in my mind, we are married. As a team, we're supposed to work together, through thick and thin; no matter what.

"O-Okay. But can I be honest with you here?" Eli laid down on the bed, spreading his legs for me to lie between them, "I'm just an open box of suggestion tonight. Come on, let's talk."

I slowly slipped in between my husbands legs, and rested my back on his chest. Feeling his heart beating in rhythm with mine was settling me, but did not reassure me of my doubts.

"I'm really nervous Eli," I admitted, staring down at his dress pants, and beginning to tug at them with my fingertips greedily. It was definitely a nerves related habit I picked up ever since college, which was where all the_** real** _stress began.

"About what? Tell me everything," he stroked my curls away from my face, as I rested against his torso.

"I-I'm worried that we won't get our happily ever after. We've been struggling to get the bills paid for the past five months, and we've only been married for six months. I know we're just really starting out, but these rough patches are getting me nervous," I felt his warm hand stroke over my cheek, "Everything isn't going to be picture perfect in our marriage. So what if you're not pregnant yet? So what if we didn't fill our backyard pool with water yet because the pluming is messed up? So what Clare? We're together...that's all that matters. With love, everything will follow."

I kissed his lips, leaning my head in the crook of his shoulder, "Thanks for the pep talk Eli, it was convincing enough to make my palms stop sweating and my mind stop racing."

"Relax Mrs. Goldsworthy."

His hands traced the outline of my back, before palming my shoulders, "We're going to pay off these bills. And besides, I've already paid half of them online-these are just receipts and identification to show we did pay."

"Where are you getting all this money from? I'm only getting money in by every other week, and it's not enough-," he scoffed, kissing my lips. I felt his warm muscle slide into my mouth, licking the outer line of my teeth.

Momentarily, I was distracted.

_And I didn't mind. _

I turned my body fully on top of him, and felt our chests rubbing together. I balanced myself by placing my hands on either side of his body, "I love you so much Clare...and I have some news to tell you."

"What?" I licked my lips, tossing the bills that were once my worry, to the bedroom floor.

Bills will come and go, but Eli will never change-I'm keeping him, he's here to stay.

"I-I um, do you remember Stalker Angel? From High School?" My heart felt like it crept up my throat, and was cutting off my supply of oxygen. The metaphorical bricks began to pound down onto my frail shoulders, the worrisome emotions taking over.

"Y-Yeah."

"My publisher was going through my old email, and found my full edition that I never published. After they released our short edition, I couldn't help but feel like it should be made into a book, with more details, edits, and a plot twist ending-so I wrote more," he smirked, rubbing his hands soothingly on my waist.

"He published the book yesterday Clare," Eli admitted, a guilty expression on his face, "Are you mad?"

"Why would I be mad? You got another book out there Eli, that's great."

Even though the book was about me...being killed...if he didn't change the ending, that is-this was still my husband, and I was going to support him one hundred percent.

"Well, you see, here's the thing," he continued, "Since half the book was written by you, it's known as our first collaboration. It's a pretty big deal, and it's already hit the number one book that has been purchased online and in stores. It's turning into a phenomenon..."

"A-Are you kidding? Eli, that's great!" I attacked his face with tiny butterfly kisses everywhere; from his jaw to his neck, from his neck to crooked smile, from his crooked smile to his-

"Whoa! Um, I thought we would...eat first, then make love later?" the blood rushed to my cheeks, as I kissed his five o' clock shadow, "That sounds perfect. Can I drive?"

"Let's not push it Clare. Let's just say that we're going to be doing a lot of signings, and meet and greets, that we won't have to have panic attacks over bills. But, if it ever comes back down to that, we will figure it out together-alright? No more worried Clare faces, those make me worried," he kissed my temple, wrapping his arm around my waist as we walked down the steps.

Our wedding rings clanked together when we held hands. I leaned my head on Eli's shoulder, asking playfully, "Who would've known that your mastermind love story based slightly off of us would save our financial falling butts?"

"Love conquers all, in every which way."

**END OF ONE HEART, WITH TWO OWNERS**

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**Reviews? :3 **

I know it was short (it was meant to be) but it's...1am, and I'm exhausted.

Love you guys,

Cliffhanger Girl

3


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